Task Force X (film)
Task Force X a 2010 American superhero film based on the DC Comics supervillain team of the same name, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is the third installment in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). The film is written and directed by David Ayerand stars an ensemble cast including David St. Louis, Margot Robbie, Jay Hernandez, Jai Courtney, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Joel Kinnaman, Cara Delevingne, Karen Fukuhara, Viola Davis, Ike Barinholtz, Scott Eastwood, and Cameron Monoghan. In Suicide Squad, a secret government agency led by Amanda Waller recruits imprisoned supervillains to execute dangerous black ops missions and save the world from a powerful threat in exchange for reduced sentences. By February 2009, a Suicide Squad film was in development at Warner Bros. Ayer signed on to write and direct in September 2014, and by October, the casting process had begun. Principal photography began in Toronto, Ontario on April 13, 2015, with additional filming in Chicago, Illinois, and ended in August that year. Suicide Squad premiered in New York City on August 1, 2016, and was released in the United States in 2D, Real D 3D, IMAX, and IMAX 3D on August 5, 2016. Following a strong debut that set new box office records, the film grossed over $746 million worldwide, making it the 10th highest-grossing film of 2016. It received generally negative reviews from critics, who criticized the plot, direction, editing, and characters, though Robbie's performance received praise. The film was nominated for and won multiple awards across various categories, including an Oscar for Best Makeup and Hairstyling at the 89th Academy Awards, making it the first film in the DCEU to win an Academy Award. Plot Batman rescues Riddler from a black ops assassination ordered by A.R.G.U.S.' director Amanda Waller, returning him to Arkham Asylum. Invoking Priority Ultraviolet, Waller assembles Task Force X, a team of dangerous criminals imprisoned at Slabside. The team consists of elite hitman Floyd Lawton, former psychiatrist Harleen Quinzel, metahuman criminal Caitlin Snow, opportunistic thief George "Digger" Harkness, genetic mutant Shay Lamden, and specialized assassin Black Spider. They are placed under command of Colonel Rick Flag to be used as disposable assets in high-risk missions for the United States government. A nanite bomb is implanted in the neck of each team member, designed to detonate should the member rebel or try to escape. The six are sent to Gotham City, where Penguin has been hired by Waller to give them arms, equipment, and a place to stay, although he is angry with Harley and Joker for tossing his cigarettes in the harbor for a laugh, and nearly kills her, but Deadshot convinces him that killing her would be bad for his business, Dead Shot repeatedly clashes with Boomerang as the latter does not respect his leadership of the group. When Flagg retires for the night, he finds Harley in his bed. Against his better judgement, they sleep together. To get to Arkham, Harley breaks into a doll store and begins trashing it. Batman arrives, demanding she tell him where Joker hid a dirty bomb; Batman has been ransacking the city in search of it, even resorting to interrogating Riddler for answers. This is also a dead end, as Harley has no clue where the bomb is located; Batman is forced to send her back to Arkham. At Arkham, Harley encounters the Joker, who begins taunting how he previously kicked her out of a car, and ends up lashing out by telling him she slept with Deadshot and by attempting to shoot him with a stolen gun, only to fail in doing so due to the Joker's bulletproof prison cell. This distraction allows the others to infiltrate Arkham in disguises. Black Spider causes an explosion, putting the asylum on Yellow Alert; King Shark suggests playing the previous day's footage to keep both Batman and Waller from noticing them. Despite some in-fighting, the team manages to get to the storage room, where they find Harley's mallet and Riddler's cane, however they find the latter empty. Batman arrives, as the footage showed employees who had that day off, fighting the squad until Black Spider pins him during an explosion; Black Spider later emerges with Batman's belt as his trophy. However, they then notice Killer Frost is missing. It turns out Frost was tasked by Waller to kill Riddler, which was the true purpose of the mission; however, he reveals Waller can't kill him with a nano bomb for the very same reason she wants him dead: because he knows how to defuse it. The rest of the squad find her and Riddler outside the Medical Facility; they agree to help Riddler escape if he can defuse the bombs. Unfortunately, Joker also manages to escape as Harley's attack weakened his cell. Riddler hooks the squad up to the electro shock machine, minus Black Spider as he wishes to stand guard. At the same time, a dazed Batman wanders around and is found by the Joker, who sneaks up to shoot him. Riddler turns on the machine as Waller calls for an update; seeing the bombs' signals fading and learning of the squad's betrayal, she activates them. Harley, Deadshot, Boomerang and Frost survive, but King Shark's head explodes due to his thick skin blocking the electricity; oddly so does Batman's before Joker can shoot him. Riddler begins laughing as the squad hasn't figured out that "Black Spider" is Batman; revealing himself, Batman demands to know why the squad is in Arkham, only for the Joker to arrive and start shooting at everyone. Harley manages to sweet-talk the Joker into forgiving her, and Deadshot manages to "out-crazy" Joker to scare him away. It's then revealed Joker had hidden the dirty bomb in Harley's mallet, which he then activates. Joker broadcasts to Arkham, telling Batman and the squad that soon Gotham will be destroyed; he releases the inmates as a distraction to allow him to escape. Deadshot manages to escape in a helicopter, while Frost is presumably killed in the chaos by Bane, and Deadshot and Captain Boomerang battle for who escapes in the helicopter, with Deadshot tackling him out and leaving him to be arrested. Batman notices three heartbeats coming from the helicopter, realizing Joker and Harley stowed away. Batman follows them in the Batwing, ending up crashing the helicopter into a building. Batman knocks out Harley, but finds a note she left on how to disarm the bomb. At the same time, Joker and Deadshot fight as Joker is not pleased with Deadshot touching Harley. Badly beaten, Deadshot manages to pin Joker to the inside of the helicopter as it crashes to the ground. Batman later confronts Waller over the incident, which resulted in Riddler escaping again. Waller vows that her units will catch him next time, but Batman then warns her to discontinue the Task Force X program. Waller arrogantly dismisses his warning and taunts that they never found Joker's body. The moment Batman leaves, Waller notices a gun's laser trained on her chest and then on her forehead. Deadshot is shown to be the source, reunited with his daughter, and the movie ends before he pulls the trigger, leaving Waller's fate uncertain. Cast * Jay Ryan as Bruce Wayne/Batman * Joshua Jackson as Sergeant Marcus Driver * Aleck Paunovic as Officer Felton * Courtney B. Vance as Lucius Fox * David St. Louis as Floyd Lawton/Dead Shot * Cameron Monoghan as the Joker * Margot Robbie as Harleen Quinzel/Harley Quinn * Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flag Sr. * Viola Davis as Amanda Waller * Josh Gad as Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot/Penguin * Seth Gabel as Edward Nygma/the Riddler * Jai Courtney as George "Digger" Harkness/Captain Boomerang * Dan Payne as Dr. Shaw Lamben and David Hayter as King Frost * Jay Hernandez as Johnny Lamonica/Black Spider * Danielle Panabaker as Dr. Caitlin Snow/Killer Frost